Pinterest Challenge: Ampersanity (& Link Party!)

I am thrilled to be hosting this party with some of my favorite DIY divas: Katie from Bower Power, Sherry from Young House Love, & Carmel from Our Fifth House. The idea is fairly simple: to stop pinning those lovely “someday” projects you’re keeping tucked away on one of your Pinterest boards, & go ahead & complete it! I am really excited to see what you’ve all been up to (and maybe get a few new projects to pin in this vicious cycle). You ready?

Of course, as a host, I couldn’t go without picking a project for myself. Last week when we announced the challenge, I mentioned that I wanted to use a few ideas I’d been pinning and create an outdoor storage bench for my newly repainted front porch makeover. I was so excited to get back into my garage and start woodworking again (I’d been on a little hiatus since building my craft desk thanks to working on my guest bath renovation). I went to the store, bought the wood, started cutting pieces…

… and then my drill’s battery crapped out on me. As in, the battery wouldn’t charge – or so I think. The gears were outta juice and there was no way to power it back up. Frick.

And I realized that because my drill was a cheap-o non-name brand, I’d have a tough time finding the proper replacements at the local hardware store (& thank you, by the way, for all of your comments on Facebook about which brand I should choose for a new drill). But this unexpected expense was not quite in the cards & my budget wasn’t ready for the drill o’ my dreams. Double frick. Or as Sherry & John would say: wop, wop.

I was super bummed. I had all of my pieces cut & ready to screw together. What was I going to show for my projects? I was going to be a terrible Pinterest Challenge co-host. Nothing to show for myself but a pile of scrap wood.

But when the going get’s tough, tough girls get creative. And I had a thought about my Build/Make board. I was constantly pinning things that I could do with scrap wood; why not take a second glance & see if I could create a scrap wood project (which usually involves nails or wood glue rather than power tools). It would certainly put the challenge in Pinterest Challenge – even if the project itself has to wait on a new drill!

UPDATE: I later did the couch arm rest sleeve. See here for the full photos.

The original ampersand sculpture I pinned (first spotted on Design*Sponge earlier this month) was made with 2x4s, but since I had a bunch of 1×3 scraps from cutting the pieces for my storage bench, I thought a slim version might look nice in my newly reno’d bath (more on that coming later this week too). I didn’t take many measurements & just began eyeballing the size of each piece. It took more than a few cuts to get it to all fit together, but since I was using only 45- and 90-degree angles, I knew the geek in me would eventually succeed. I would make a cut here, try it out, & cut again if it was too long (of course, it’s always best to err on the long side!). Eventually, I had what looked like an ampersand on the sawdusty floor of the garage:

Using a little wood glue, stain (Rustoleum: American Walnut) & poly, I assembled everything upstairs. And yes – that’s a sock I used to rub off the stain application. Old socks (especially those belonging to ex-boyfriends, husbands, and children) are great for applying stain; they have been through the wash so many times, they are virtually lint-free.

I also had my helper monitoring my progress along the way.

Best of all, I got a chance to try out a few firsts with this project: I’d never cut 45-degree angles on a compound miter saw before; I’d also never done a project where precision wasn’t top priority (by the way, have you noticed by now the ridiculous overuse of ampersands in this post? hehe). After a little dry time, my ampersand sculpture found its way into the guest bath as the first official piece of art in the room:

Yep – my new bathroom renovation now includes toilet art. Just how I roll.

Cute, right? I love it. I also realized during the making of both projects (well, the cutting of one project and the finishing of the ampersand sculpture) that there is one very important piece of furniture missing in the house: a sturdy work bench (or two). I have been using plastic folding tables to work on since first moving into the house, & after several attempts now to make do, there is simply no substitute for a table that a) has storage, b) has a flat top that works well with clamps (a plastic top that bows if your clamp is too tight? not so much) & c) can support the weight of a circular saw & a girl with an affinity for hitting things with a hammer. Guess that’s a new challenge for a different date, since I’ve already pinned these plans to make two of them myself.

And now, it’s time for you to share your own lovely projects. Did you answer the challenge? Were you successful? It’s okay if things didn’t work out as you planned. I would still love to see what you tried (since the whole point of the challenge is to make your pins a reality, even if you were met with a few obstacles). And even if you don’t have a blog, you can still share by uploading your picture to an online album & sharing the link. If you share in the link party below, please do me a favor & include a mention of the challenge (with a link) in your post. And be sure to stop by Bower Power, Young House Love, & Our Fifth House to share on their link parties & check out their challenge projects, too!

(Oh, & just a quick reminder: Pinterest is not sponsoring this. Katie & Sherry just thought it would be a fun way to get our butts off the blog & share what inspires us to get ‘er done.)

Ready? Set? Link! I can’t wait to see what you’ve been working on! (If you have this in a reader, you will likely need to click over to the blog to share your project.)

UPDATES:

Some of you have asked for an idea of how I cut the pieces and what sizes each piece is. Hopefully this little color-coded graphic will help:

Also, several of you suggested that I use it for extra toilet paper rolls (since this is a guest bathroom and I want my guests to find the toilet paper, after all). So here you go, folks. The money shot:

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About Sarah

Hey there! I'm Sarah. Can't cook. Don't have time to clean. Full time day job, weekend web designer, and single - with a garage full of power tools. I have a knack for getting paint all over ME instead of the wall, but I'm determined (hissy fits and all) to turn a 1980s eyesore into a young, modern home. Join me for all of the fun and frustration... and bring your paint brush!

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